UN PLEDGES SUPPORT IN REBUILDING EROSION RAVAGED COMMUNITY IN ANAMBRA

REPORTER: BEN ILECHUKWU

The United Nations has pledged to support the Anambra State Government in rebuilding parts of Oko, Orumba North Local Government area of the state, ravaged by erosion.

The United Nations Assistant Secretary General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Mohamed Fall, made the pledge when he visited the gully erosion sites at Oko on an on-the-spot assessment of the damage caused by the landslide.

According to Un envoy, the United Nations would be providing technical assistance, advocacy and expertise that will in turn aid in the planning, operationalizing and rebuilding the area.

Mr. Fall, who had earlier visited Onitsha Main Market, Okpoko and the General Hospital, noted that there was a remarkable improvement in road and health infrastructure, including access to water, education and improved sanitation in the urban slum of Okpoko compared to what it was at the inception of the present administration.

He further extolled Governor Soludo for his administration’s resilience and determination to improve the welfare of the people of the state.

In a remark, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Ernest Ezeajughi, thanked the UN for coming to have a first-hand assessment of the area, expressing regret that Anambra State in general is faced with the existential threat of erosion.

Mr. Ezeajughi noted that while the state government is intervening in various sectors, the gully is beyond the coping capacity of the state government.

He urged the United Nations to provide technical and other assistance to alleviate the menace caused by erosion in the area.

In the same vein, the Transition Committee Chairman for Orumba North LGA, Mr. Casmir Nwafor, thanked the United Nations representative for the assessment and expressed the hope that the collaboration with the state government would alleviate the plights of the people.

A resident of the area, Mr. James Ogbonnaya, whose house has caved in, expressed sadness with the level of the devastation even as he called on the UN and state government to expedite action to avoid further destruction of the area.

Radio Nigeria gathered that more than 100 people had been displaced from their ancestral homes as a result of the erosion menace.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU